There have been many books covering Microsoft .NET
development but only a few of them are dedicated
to C#.NET. This is understandable because the most
popular languages for Windows used to be C++ and
Visual Basic. Although it is relatively new, C# has
become a popular language for .NET development because
it has combined the basic features of Java and C++
into one new integrated development environment (IDE)
package. The same author who wrote Sams Teach Yourself
Microsoft Visual Basic .NET 2003 in 24 Hours also
brings us this easy-to-follow book on Visual Studio
C# .NET 2003. The book is intended for beginners,
but the coverage includes some advanced topics such
as database and web development.

For readers who don't have Visual Studio.NET, the
book comes with a 60-day trial version on a DVD.
Expect to spend one or two nights installing that
software. If the installation hangs, you have to
either delete the installed folder or reboot. That
will let you continue and finish the installation.
If you have a slow machine or very little free space
on your hard drive or if you hit F5 and the IDE hangs,
you can still run your programs outside of the IDE.
If the IDE spends too much time searching your network
instead of running your program, disconnect your
PC from the network and kill the IDE. Other than
those issues the trial version is fine and readers
will be able to follow along in .NET 2003 as they
work through the book.

If your background is Java, you might be surprised by
the graphical approach in this book. However, you'll agree
at the end of the book that this is the best approach for
learning Visual Studio.NET as a development tool. The book
follows the same sequence of chapters as in the Visual
Basic counterpart. It starts with a sample program (Picture
Viewer), then dissects the Windows graphical interface
step by step. The first 9 hours are mostly creating Windows
Forms and controls. The author goes into great detail about
setting properties and events for the controls. The 10th
hour starts the concepts of class and methods and the last
piece of the IDE feature - tasks. The 11th hour starts
the abstract topic of variables, data types and other real
programming topics. Hours 19 to 21 are about database programming,
and the last three hours are about deploying programs,
web development and a real-world example.

Can you really learn Microsoft Visual C# .NET 2003 in
24 hours? The answer is yes, if you follow this book an
hour a day with some background from Java, C++, and earlier
versions of Visual Studio.

In
short, this is an excellent introductory book for C#
development,
including the usage of the Visual Studio IDE.
If you are starting to learn C# programming, this book
is for you, regardless of your background. If you're an
experienced C# programmer, this book might still provide
some insights from time to time. The source code for this
book is downloadable from
the book's web site.